Nothing Held Back - AKA Being Helpless In Battle Sucks
by JediMagnet09
Summary: Tony has been disabled by this THING during a battle - helpless as he watches his Captain, his friend (though he'd never admit it, maybe not even to himself), fight for both of their lives. On the bright side, it proves his point that Steve is a noble idiot with no self preservation instincts. And no, he sees no irony in the fact that it is him who is irritated about this.


**Hey all! So it's been a long time, I know. I'm sorry. Without sounding too whiny or going too personal, things have been really hectic in my life recently and it's been hard to find time and energy to write something good enough to post on here.**

 **That said, this is my first time writing for the Avengers fandom, though I've read hundreds of stories. I do have a slight confession - this is an odd point of view choice for me, because I actually really dislike Tony Stark/Ironman. I've only ever liked him in fanfiction, never in the movies. I love stories that have him and Steve as friends - the only time I've ever found him even slightly tolerable, to be honest. So I decided to challenge myself by writing from his point of view. I have no idea if it is in character or not. I think so. This is a little hectic and rambling, but that's on purpose. Hopefully it makes sense!**

 **I will make another confession, this one good. I ADORE STEVE ROGERS WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING! He is awesome and adorable and muscular and just such a good man and I love him.**

 **Anyway...I hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading! :)**

 **...**

Tony is down – his suit is malfunctioning, going haywire. His visuals are going in and out and he can't really move. He sees in brilliant, terrifying flashes the big _whatever-it-is_ coming at him, tries to think of a way out, tries to come to terms with his own rather suck-y ending. He can hear yelling over the comms, his team trying to figure out who is closest, shouting for him to get up, someone is yelling about not seeing Steve – and were Tony not about to die that would worry him because Steve is like a crazy star spangled mother hen with her chicks when it comes to his teammates during battle and after battle and before battle and...okay, yeah, like all the time.

Just as the _whatever-it-is_ nearly closes on him, a tall and imposing and oh so familiar form stepped between predator and prey – and since when did the inside of his head sound like one of those nature documentaries – Captain America in all his red, white, and blue glory. The thing was though, he really did live up to the hype and the stories and even the tall tales, because Steve was awesome and a little scary and just a kid too (oddly enough for a 90 something year old man).

And were his suit functioning, Tony would currently be yelling at the star spangled idiot. This _whatever-it-is_ was strong – even stronger than Steve – and from the sounds of the yelling on the comms, there wasn't going to be any back up coming soon enough to make a difference. It would crush him like a bug and Tony – he hated it, oh how he hated being helpless with a fierce passion – would have to watch.

The _thing_ stopped to look over it's new opponent and something almost like a freakish _grin_ spread across its face. If it unnerved Steve, the captain didn't show it – all Tony could think was he was grateful his suit didn't show facial expressions cause _crap_ that thing was freaky enough without the freaky grin on it's freaky face – the captain just squared his shoulders and cocked his head a little almost like...like a _freaking challenge, the_ _ **freaking**_ _idiot!_

Tony – the irony was incredible, it really was, Tony was many things but stupid wasn't one of them most of the time – was going to have to have a talk with Steve about appropriate behavior when facing a stronger enemy.

His thoughts went shockingly blank when the two, at some unspoken signal, seemed to erupt into motion.

Tony had seen Steve fight. He'd seen newsreels, he'd read stories, he'd heard his father tell endless examples of Steve's heroism and talent, he'd personally fought side by side with the man, but _this_ – this was different. This was Steve pushed to the limit – fighting someone so beyond him that it required all of his ability, and wasn't _that_ a scary thought, though kinda touching – if Tony were the type to have such thoughts, which he wasn't, seriously, he wasn't – that Steve would drive himself to such limits for Tony, for a crass genius who drove him up the wall sometimes or maybe most of the time.

Tony had also never quite had this vantage before – he didn't usually make a habit of becoming a sitting duck during battles, it was bad for the health in _so_ many ways, really – and thus hadn't realized how graceful and _fast_ the super soldier was. He was practically reading the _thing's_ mind, anticipating moves before they reached him, and wasn't _that_ awesome.

Of course, things weren't going to stay awesome – that would be way too convenient and so not their luck, like _ever_ – and that was when the _whatever-it-is_ finally got a shot in. It's talons raked painfully deep across Steve's abdomen, even as he was catching his shield from his last throw. The sheer force of the blow sent Steve flying back, hitting the ground hard even as he tried to bite down on a cry of pain – and Tony had never, in all their battles, heard Steve actually cry out in pain, even when suffering from pretty nasty injuries and it was kinda gonna freak him out if he thought about it too long. Of course – just as likely as things not staying awesome was the crazy captain's persistent determination to not stay down in a fight, no matter how bad or how outmatched – Steve forced himself back up, swaying a little as his blood continued to pump from his messy abdomen – and oh _crap_ even from here Tony could see those wounds were deep and how was the man even _standing_ right now, much less preparing to continue the fight?

Steve picked up his shield and took his place between Tony and the _whatever-it-is_ , face set in stone – which seemed like an apt comparison for the man who refused to move from what he thought was right, no matter what, which a part of Tony had to admire even as it frustrated him at times – and, even as Tony fought in vain to stand, he watched as the battle resumed, just as fast and fierce as before.

The team was getting closer – that much was discernible from the chaos that was the comms and Tony was beginning to understand why Steve got on them about keeping the 'channels clear' and all that, cause it sure was distracting to have them all chattering in his ear as their fearless leader fought to the death – Tony could only hope that the team would reach them in time. From the looks of Steve's deeply stained uniform, it wasn't looking good.

Steve was tossed twice more before the _whatever-it-is_ decided it wasn't making their day weird enough and _spoke._ Tony had seriously thought that Loki with all of his smooth talk and arrogance levels that made Tony Stark look like a humble man was annoying, even a little frightening if he was being honest with himself – which, no, so overrated – but the grating static noise that was this creature's voice was unbearable. Even Steve winced as the creature spoke, though the words spoken had his face quickly switching to a level of fury that even Tony had never seen in their captain, much less brought out in him – and, wow, Nick Fury himself could take intimidation lessons from the captain, which Tony never would have guessed, and this was just a day full of surprises wasn't it.

Tony couldn't make out the words exactly – JARVIS couldn't filter sound very well considering the suit was still wigging out so much that he couldn't even stand in it – but whatever was said pushed Steve to the edge – whatever that meant, in all it's ambiguous and foreboding glory.

Despite multiple injuries and no clear advantage over the _whatever-it-is_ , Steve lunged at the creature with such speed and force that he knocked it over and...oh. Oh, that was nasty, even by Tony's standards. He had no idea the shield could be used like that – but _HOLY CRAP_ the thing was standing up, ignoring Steve's shield protruding mere inches out of it's throat, and tossing Steve off like he hadn't just tried to decapitate it with his shield, giving a passing swipe with it's talons that got him deeply again, drawing another cry of pain – and _oh_ when Tony could get up again, he was going to rip this thing to pieces.

Steve wasn't getting up.

Tony wasn't even aware of his own yelling at his teammate – okay, yeah, his best friend, _shut up brain_ – as the _thing_ bore down on Steve, clearly intending to finish him off, and _crap_ he didn't want to watch this, he didn't want this to happen at all, but he didn't want to _watch_ -

With a mighty crash, the Hulk landed over Steve – a foot on either side of the completely still super soldier – and roared with earth shaking volume and ferocity (Tony would know, he could feel it rumbling the ground beneath him). The cavalry had arrived.

Tony let himself slump within the suit, relieved. Sure it wasn't over, but there was no way this _whatever-it-is_ could defeat the Hulk. Just...no. No way. Especially as the other Avengers were reaching them too and looking just about as ticked off as Tony felt, which was gratifying. If he had to be helpless, it certainly was better to watch this thing get utterly destroyed by his awesome team – his friends - than to watch Cap get eaten.

Tony – for the first time since he hit the ground – heard JARVIS's voice in his ears. It was unclear at first, but finally began to become easier to understand as systems started to boot back online. "Sir, power has been restored, systems...mostly...functional, and you should be able to join the battle within two minutes."

Tony had always expressed emotion – even good emotion – in sarcasm. Healthy, probably not, but when had that ever stopped him? "'Mostly' functional, Jarvis? That's a scientific term I'm unfamiliar with."

"I do try to keep you on your toes, sir."

"You're good at that, J. Now give me readings on Cap, pronto."

"He's lost a significant amount of blood, sir. Anyone else would be dead, but his enhanced system seems to be holding up well. My scans show multiple broken ribs, several broken bones in his right wrist, left ankle and left foot. Though I don't have the equipment to determine so now, reviewing the records of the fight and the source of his injuries, it is likely that Captain Rogers has a severe concussion as well, sir."

"Alert Windu that we will need paramedics the second this battle is over."

"Windu, sir?"

"Fury, Jarvis, keep up."

"My apologies, sir, I will endeavor to keep up with your leaps in logic, odd as they may be."

Tony didn't have time to respond – his suit kicked back into gear and he was going. The _thing_ was being beaten to a pulp by the rest of his team – and as selfish as he was, he wouldn't interrupt their fun, he would just complain that they didn't save any for him when this was all over and Steve wasn't so pale and...Fine. The man was fine. Tony wasn't worried by the blood, or the motionlessness of a man that never rested when his team was in danger. Nope, not worried, ever, not even a little.

Perhaps he might have made the others _think_ he was, though, when he scooped Steve up as gently as he could and blasted off into the sky as fast he could go without hurting his already injured teammate, with a passing "Cap needs medical attention" to the battling Avengers that remained.

He had never flown with such a sense of urgency before – and he had fought in some pretty incredible situations that required some pretty fancy maneuvering and a fair amount of speed before, managing it all pretty gracefully, if he did say so himself – he could only hope that the helicarrier was ready for him when he arrived, because if not he was going to _scare_ those doctors into working medical miracles with even more effectiveness than the Hulk would or his name wasn't Tony Stark.

…...

Luckily for him, the doctors at SHIELD were good – especially when the pirate made it clear that the whole world was counting on them not to kill a national icon and that Coulson would be extremely upset should his hero die. The agent was unflappable – but Tony had seen the Loki confrontation footage and some of the aftermath that few others had seen, and darn but Coulson could be scary as heck.

Thus, Tony found himself sitting in one of the hospital chairs – why so uncomfortable, it didn't make any sense considering how many people had to sit for long periods of time in hospital chairs, he was going to invent the best hospital chair _ever_ and have Stark Industries market it, they'd make billions, though he would probably donate them for free just to spare himself the pain of these stupid chairs – beside the bed of his totally-not-best-friend Steve Rogers, who was, finally and thankfully, asleep rather than unconscious. The doctors had assured the team that the captain would be fine. He might be out of commission for a week or two as he healed – which was in itself a medical miracle considering his ridiculously extensive injury list – but would be good as new in no time.

Tony found himself glancing around the room at the other Avengers – Natasha with her book, Clint silently sleeping at her side, Thor sleeping in his chair as well (looking vastly uncomfortable considering how small his chair was and how not small he was), with Bruce glancing over Steve's medical charts with a critical and practiced eye – and realized for perhaps the first time that he had managed to find a group of people willing to put everything on the line, time and time again, to protect each other and the world – whether or not the world deserved it was another question that Tony didn't bother asking, as he knew that at very least it was worth saving for Pepper, and Happy, and Rhodey, and his fellow Avengers - and they actually considered him to be one of them.

Lacking in confidence Tony was not and probably never would be, but he was learning from Steve what real strength looked like, what real bravery was, and what it really meant to lay down on the wire – not just once but every day in many different ways.

Too many feelings – Tony promptly put his feet up on Steve's bed and began drawing up plans for better protection for his suit (and Steve's – that _whatever-it-is_ should have had to work harder to get through Cap's suit). Whether he would even allow himself to think it or not, he knew he was here for the long haul – he wouldn't let the captain do this alone, just as he had not left the genius on his own. Tony was pretty sure that was what friendship was all about.


End file.
